Lane's Ramblings

Sunday

I woke up early to make the drive to Hobart in the southeast corner of the island. It's not a long drive, 300km from this hotel, it should take 4 or 5 hours. First I need to find gas, which brought me back to Queenstown. Now in the morning light Queenstown has somehow come alive.. the gas station is open, people are walking around, and even worse, there are hotels everywhere. Where were these last night? No bother now, I filled up the Corolla and went on my way.

The first climb was to see how mining has torn apart and stained the mountains surrounding Queenstown. There's nothing that you can complain about, it just gives you an idea of how this process is done and what it does to the land. I pulled over to see the Iron Blow, which is a huge absence of earth where a mountain once stood. It was very impressive how they removed so much rock and kept the formation so round and the walls so sheer.

I drove on and on through the mountains until I came to Nelson Falls, a short hike from the highway that brings you right to the base of a 100ft waterfall. The signs tell you that early in the morning and late at night you can see platypuses scouring the the bottom of the river but I didn't see any. I looked as much as I could though. It was cool and quiet and a nice place to spend sometime even though there weren't many places to sit because it was so wet.

The next stop was Donaghy's Lookout, just underneath the Frenchman's Cap. Another short hike, the trail brought you to a point that juts out of what seems to be nothing. Suddenly you are far above the surrounding ground and can see a 360 degree panorama of the surrounding mountains and valleys. I don't know who Donaghy was (he probably owned the land at some point) but his lookout was a great place to read, think, or just sit and admire the surrounds.

The last stop on this trip to Hobart was Tarraleah - I needed coffee and the sign told me that they had a cafe. And that they did - a very nice cafe on the edge of town where it would have been nice to have lunch but instead I took my coffee to go. Before I got back in the car I had a look at the enormous power generator that they had in the town. They diverted two rivers through some very large pipes and then sent the water, still in the pipes, down a very steep part of the mountain into the generator at the bottom. It was a nice little town and I was glad I stopped.

The rest of the drive to Hobart was flat and not very interesting. I pulled into town and it was still light, which is what I needed to find my way around and a place to stay. I did one or two laps of the city before I parked and wandered into the Information Centre - they have these all over Australia and they are extremely helpful. They have brochures, book tours, maps, and for me, today, they found me accommodation. I would have settled for a small hotel with paper-thin walls and a small lamp on a table for light but they put me up in a very nice Mercure Hotel in the CBD for a reasonalbe price and full breakfast - high class all the way.

I was checked in and had the necessities out of the car and it was time to explore the town. I did a quick walk by the water and made my way over to Battery Point - a very nice (and I'm sure expensive) part of town with roads that wound by old houses and small shops. I found a nice Irish pub (naturally) where I stopped for a Guinness but they were setting up for dinner so I didn't stay long. I found The New Sydney Hotel, another pub that seemed to be a bit more lively so I stopped in there for what must have been the worst veggie burger that I've ever had. Aside from that, it is a great place and I would recommend it. And that's where I finished the night, it has been a long trip already and sleep was very inviting...

I woke up early but not early enough to see the sun rise over the harbor. I had enough time to get Macquarie Point but not enough time to get a coffee on the way. When I got to my viewing point I realized a couple of things - Hobart doesn't face the ocean, there's a large piece of land directly east of the city, although, on the other side of the river. Second, because the sun has to rise about the town opposite, it takes a lot longer to become visible so I was sitting on the point - without coffee - 20 minutes after 'sunrise' waiting for the sun to show itself. Finally it appeared, pictures were taken, and I was on my way back to the hotel for my inclusive full breakfast (that means buffet!).

There are plenty of small towns that boast some sort of historical significance or another but I wasn't having any of it. I was on the fast road to Launceston, the third oldest city in Australia, and I think the nicest town in Tasmania (from what I've seen). At first it didn't seem that they had too much but once I found the main streets and the cafes it was quite a charming town. I also found a nice little bookstore where I, of course, bought some books. And in the park they have a Japanese Macaque exhibit where you can watch the monkeys sit around, groom each other, and sometimes get in fights. The kids of the town seem to love it, which convinced me to leave a little earlier than I would have liked. Don't get me wrong, I like kids but kids and monkeys and trying to be quiet doesn't add up. I didn't want to be late for the boat anyway and I wasn't exactly sure how long it would take me to get up to Devonport.

Well, it didn't take very long to get up to Devonport so I had a lot of time to kill, which shouldn't be too hard because the ferry lands here so there should be plenty to do in town. That was my first mistake - the only thing worth doing in Devonport is getting drunk then falling onto the boat but even the pubs weren't open. Nothing was open except for the gambling establishments but I'm really not into those. I did find a cafe that let me in for a while but that time waiting for them to finally let us on the boat was just hell.

And then I was back on the ferry on my way back to Melbourne with a better idea of how I would see Tasmania on the next trip. Hobart and/or Launceston on one trip. Hiking on another. They don't go together, especially for just a weekend.